The Intelligent Electric Vehicle Development High-Level Forum (2026) was held on April 11-12 at the China National Convention Center Phase II in Beijing, with the theme "Promoting the Intelligent, Green, Integrated, and International Development of New Energy Vehicles."
Han Sanchu, Executive Vice President of Volkswagen Group (China) and CEO of CARIAD China, discussed the cooperation with XPeng in the field of electronic and electrical architecture, stating that it has provided a rapid start and acceleration for the company. He added that Volkswagen is quickly building these capabilities and systems to ensure the group's sustainable internal momentum for the future. The most tangible outcome of the strategic cooperation and joint development with XPeng on the first-generation CEA architecture was the mass production and delivery of CEA Architecture 1.0 at the end of last year, following 18 months of development.
He pointed out that the successful delivery of the CEA architecture not only signifies a significant improvement in Volkswagen's software capabilities, achieving a breakthrough from zero to one, but also marks the fact that the Volkswagen Group truly possesses a capable team and a tangible architecture in China. Furthermore, it now has the core strength to continuously enhance capabilities on this scalable, concrete architecture.
He also mentioned that the path for intelligent driving has been incorporated into the roadmap for the CEA architecture. In recent years, a clear trend has emerged where L2++ technological architectures and capabilities are gradually converging. He emphasized that the next critical step is the breakthrough for L3 and L4 autonomy. More precisely, from the user's perspective, it should be the confirmation and implementation of L4 capability. "A truly good L4 system should drive when you want it to drive, and let you drive when you want to drive yourself, rather than requiring you to be constantly prepared to take over," he said.
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